Abby Clement’s Writers Tip

The first thing I’d say is make sure you are spending plenty of time writing. Only when that book idea is down on paper can it start to get any better.

Secondly (although I’d suggest this comes before, after and during!) is reading plenty in the area you’re interested in. If you want to write historical fiction, for example, immerse yourself in that world, read the latest novels and decide for yourself what works and doesn’t work. Some writers worry that reading will negatively affect/influence their work too much – it won’t. And if you don’t read in your area you may find it hard to get the quality of your writing and ability to connect with an audience past a certain point.

One last thing – don’t worry about procrastinating every so often. Everyone does it, and while you do need to put words on the page, you also need time for those ideas to percolate. So rather than feeling bad about putting the laundry on/going for a jog/chatting on Twitter in the time you’d allotted to write in, try and accept that as part of the creative process too.
Abby Clements